Art Riot: Post-Soviet Actionism is a very interesting exhibition held at Saatchi Gallery until the end of the year, that uses photography to document Russian protest art over the past 25 years.

According to the gallery’s press release, the exhibition takes place on the 100th anniversary of Russia’s October Revolution, and compares many of the issues that artist face in post-communist Russia to those in 1917, such as problems of individual freedom in the face of both political ideology and also religion. The exhibition will feature such performance artists as Oleg Kulik, Pussy Riot, Pyotr Pavlensky, Blue Noses and some others and display various genres and types of protest art from posters and slogans to video art, staged photography and performances.

Oleg Kulik ranks among the most interesting and controversial Russian artists. He has managed to attract the attention of art critics and exhibition curators by his performance shows, characterised by “strong expression” where he himself assumes a role of “artist-animal”. He would be a dog, a bird, a fish, a bull. The artist thus simplifies his performance language to the basic emotional vocabulary of an animal.

If you want to be a great cook, you need to know your ingredients, your spices and your seasoning. If we were to compare photography to cooking, then the spice of the art is in the word. PHOTOGRAPHY. Two Greek words Phos and grafo, light and to write. So photography (fotografia) is literally writing or painting with light.